Recommendations: Biography: Lives of the rich and famous

Miranda Seymour finds passion and power-broking among the characters under scrutiny in 2003

Little room at this inn for the biographies on the Whitbread prize shortlist, I’m afraid. The judges chose dully, and I think I know why. As a former Whitbread judge myself, I was amazed by the short shrift we gave to the idea of reviewing any books that came in late or in proof form. This meant that nothing published after mid-autumn stood a chance. Some of this year’s strongest candidates appeared in the past two months. I rest my case.

In a welter of books commemorating Elizabeth I’s death, Jane Dunn’s Elizabeth & Mary (HarperCollins £20) was outstanding. Perceptive and delightfully readable, Dunn’s portrait drew attention to the different ways in which the princesses were schooled for power. Mary Queen of Scots, an indulged beauty reared at the corrupt French court, never ceased to see herself as entitled to a position of authority; Elizabeth, arrested twice for treason during